Mini - John Cooper Classic – British Racing Green. Winter Protection Detail.
The 90’s classic lives out on the street so it has a fairly tough ‘exposed’ life. It was booked in for a deep clean and Winter Protection Detail to help shield all exterior aspects of the car from the elements.
Product
· 3M Glass Cleaner
· AutoSmart G101
· AutoSmart Tardis
· Autosol
· Aquartz Iron-X
· Belgom ALU
· BlackFire Gloss Enhancing Polish
· BlackFire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection
· Chemical Guys JetSEAL901
· Collinite 915 Marque D’Elegance
· Dodo Juice Born to be Mild
· Elite Fine Grade Clay
· Jeffs Werkstat Prime
· Meguiars Last Touch
· Meguiars Super Degreaser
Inspection.
Under the strip lights a few bodyshop defects were visible and a lovely haze was covering the car.
Starting with the wheels, they were pre-soaked in G101, pressure rinsed, G101 re-applied and then Super Degreaser used on the tyres and up into the arches.
Various brushes used to clean the wheels; lovely wheels though those Superlights!
Once rinsed, Tardis applied to remove a few tar specs and Iron-X followed to help remove the engrained inorganic contaminants (iron filings, brake dust etc)
Having to be careful where the pressure washer was used today, I cleaned all intricate areas by hand with G101 and a soft bristled brush.
A thick covering of Snowfoam applied – more intricate areas cleaned with the brush.
Foam removed bottem to top, more foam applied and washed with a Merino washmit and Dodo’s Born to be Mild shampoo.
Using two pieces of clay today (one soaked in warm water to keep malleable), all surface contaminants were removed.
Surprising amounts of dirt lifted from the roof:
Upon closer inspection, the roof was covered in tiny tiny iron filings. Luckily, I have just the product for this!
Iron-X yet again in action:
Once the filings were removed, vehicle was re-rinsed and I continued to clay the rest of the car.
…a worthwhile task if you ask me!
Once dry and in the ‘sun’:
The above image shows machine holograms where a polisher had been used in the past.
It was a shame the Mini was only booked in for a Protection Detail. “Why?” Take a look at the paint condition…
Every panel was covered in heavy swirl marks and machine buffer trails.
Knowing how much better the Mini could look with correct machine polishing, I phoned the owner and asked if I could put the front end through a Minor Correction Detail as an example of what is possible for future work.
Taped up and ready for a 50/50:
Before:
After:
This next picture is split into four quarters; looking down onto the bonnet, the bottom left and top right is the paint in its original condition. The top left and bottom right is the paint with restored clarity after a Minor Correction Detail.
Having seen the results, the Mini is now booked in for a full Paint Correction detail in early Spring.
Continuing with the Winter prep, all exterior paintwork was cleansed with BlackFire’s Gloss Enhancing Polish. The Jack Daniels (other whiskeys are available!) vinyl sticker on the roof was cleansed with Dodo Juice Lime Prime Lite.
Before:
And after:
50/50 showing the difference (just right of the light reflection, that’s the 50/50):
Sticker was very dirty; polish residues were black and greasy!
As was the cloth used to buff:
Something didn’t look right at the back end… It was the grimy light clusters:
Cleaned up with G101 and a cocktail stick used to shift the muck caught down the sides of the lens:
Left, before. Right, after:
Repeated on the N/S light housing:
The chrome fuel-cap looked a little lifeless. Jeffs Prime used to freshen up:
Before/Afters:
Radiator grille cleaned much in the same way.
Before:
After:
Before/After:
A rusty screw had turned the N/S front indicator orange.
Cleaning and agitating with G101 made little difference. Aquartz Iron-X used to shift the most of:
Although it’s not perfect, it’s now much improved:
Front and rear, the chrome bumpers were in a bit of a mess. It looks like someone’s gone at them with a brillo-pad or similar. The usual metal polishing approach was taken but little difference was made. Experimenting, I picked up the rotary. AutoSol and a finishing pad = little improvement. Gradually increasing my cut, I ended up on a 3M cutting spot-pad with Fast Cut+.
50/50:
As you can see, still suffering quite severely! Time to look into dedicated metal polishing equipment I think. (Any pointers from metal-polishing pro’s?)
Once the britework and wheels were sorted, it was time for BlackFire’s All Finish Paint Protection.
Applied by hand and a Gloss-it applicator:
Followed by Collinite’s 915 Marque D’Elegance wax for max durability:
Glass polished inside and out. Tyres dressed. Paintwork given a final wipedown… 7 hours later(!)
The corrected front-end:
What a cool little car! The owner was very impressed - I can’t wait to get it back early Spring time for the correction work.
A couple of sneaky pics from other recent Winter Protection Details that weren’t fully documented:
Thanks for reading.
Jim
The 90’s classic lives out on the street so it has a fairly tough ‘exposed’ life. It was booked in for a deep clean and Winter Protection Detail to help shield all exterior aspects of the car from the elements.
Product
· 3M Glass Cleaner
· AutoSmart G101
· AutoSmart Tardis
· Autosol
· Aquartz Iron-X
· Belgom ALU
· BlackFire Gloss Enhancing Polish
· BlackFire Wet Diamond All Finish Paint Protection
· Chemical Guys JetSEAL901
· Collinite 915 Marque D’Elegance
· Dodo Juice Born to be Mild
· Elite Fine Grade Clay
· Jeffs Werkstat Prime
· Meguiars Last Touch
· Meguiars Super Degreaser
Inspection.
Under the strip lights a few bodyshop defects were visible and a lovely haze was covering the car.
Starting with the wheels, they were pre-soaked in G101, pressure rinsed, G101 re-applied and then Super Degreaser used on the tyres and up into the arches.
Various brushes used to clean the wheels; lovely wheels though those Superlights!
Once rinsed, Tardis applied to remove a few tar specs and Iron-X followed to help remove the engrained inorganic contaminants (iron filings, brake dust etc)
Having to be careful where the pressure washer was used today, I cleaned all intricate areas by hand with G101 and a soft bristled brush.
A thick covering of Snowfoam applied – more intricate areas cleaned with the brush.
Foam removed bottem to top, more foam applied and washed with a Merino washmit and Dodo’s Born to be Mild shampoo.
Using two pieces of clay today (one soaked in warm water to keep malleable), all surface contaminants were removed.
Surprising amounts of dirt lifted from the roof:
Upon closer inspection, the roof was covered in tiny tiny iron filings. Luckily, I have just the product for this!
Iron-X yet again in action:
Once the filings were removed, vehicle was re-rinsed and I continued to clay the rest of the car.
…a worthwhile task if you ask me!
Once dry and in the ‘sun’:
The above image shows machine holograms where a polisher had been used in the past.
It was a shame the Mini was only booked in for a Protection Detail. “Why?” Take a look at the paint condition…
Every panel was covered in heavy swirl marks and machine buffer trails.
Knowing how much better the Mini could look with correct machine polishing, I phoned the owner and asked if I could put the front end through a Minor Correction Detail as an example of what is possible for future work.
Taped up and ready for a 50/50:
Before:
After:
This next picture is split into four quarters; looking down onto the bonnet, the bottom left and top right is the paint in its original condition. The top left and bottom right is the paint with restored clarity after a Minor Correction Detail.
Having seen the results, the Mini is now booked in for a full Paint Correction detail in early Spring.
Continuing with the Winter prep, all exterior paintwork was cleansed with BlackFire’s Gloss Enhancing Polish. The Jack Daniels (other whiskeys are available!) vinyl sticker on the roof was cleansed with Dodo Juice Lime Prime Lite.
Before:
And after:
50/50 showing the difference (just right of the light reflection, that’s the 50/50):
Sticker was very dirty; polish residues were black and greasy!
As was the cloth used to buff:
Something didn’t look right at the back end… It was the grimy light clusters:
Cleaned up with G101 and a cocktail stick used to shift the muck caught down the sides of the lens:
Left, before. Right, after:
Repeated on the N/S light housing:
The chrome fuel-cap looked a little lifeless. Jeffs Prime used to freshen up:
Before/Afters:
Radiator grille cleaned much in the same way.
Before:
After:
Before/After:
A rusty screw had turned the N/S front indicator orange.
Cleaning and agitating with G101 made little difference. Aquartz Iron-X used to shift the most of:
Although it’s not perfect, it’s now much improved:
Front and rear, the chrome bumpers were in a bit of a mess. It looks like someone’s gone at them with a brillo-pad or similar. The usual metal polishing approach was taken but little difference was made. Experimenting, I picked up the rotary. AutoSol and a finishing pad = little improvement. Gradually increasing my cut, I ended up on a 3M cutting spot-pad with Fast Cut+.
50/50:
As you can see, still suffering quite severely! Time to look into dedicated metal polishing equipment I think. (Any pointers from metal-polishing pro’s?)
Once the britework and wheels were sorted, it was time for BlackFire’s All Finish Paint Protection.
Applied by hand and a Gloss-it applicator:
Followed by Collinite’s 915 Marque D’Elegance wax for max durability:
Glass polished inside and out. Tyres dressed. Paintwork given a final wipedown… 7 hours later(!)
The corrected front-end:
What a cool little car! The owner was very impressed - I can’t wait to get it back early Spring time for the correction work.
A couple of sneaky pics from other recent Winter Protection Details that weren’t fully documented:
Thanks for reading.
Jim
